Car-Port Preacher
I just wanted to share a testimony of how God has helped us to exceed our pledge of $1,000.00.

Pies in the Face for BGMC
I have started a fad at our church the past three months and the offerings in BGMC have gone from about 12 to 15 dollars a month, to 195 dollars last month and 103 dollars the month before.

Newsletter Makes A Difference
This past month I took the opportunity to read from the BGMC Newsletter the letters written by the missionaries on how they used the BGMC offerings.

Stuffing a Bug for BGMC
I recently bought a New VW Beetle. So we are going to break the world record of the most people in a VW Beetle.

Wheel of Blessing
We have been using a "Wheel of Blessing" (Wheel of Fortune) in our Children's Church. Each child that brings in their barrel gets to spin the wheel.

A Heart of Gold and a Garage Sale of Goodies

Editor's Note: Every
year in kids' church at Christian Celebration Center in Michigan,
children's pastor Kelly Presson challenges the kids to raise funds for BGMC by
doing a bike-a-thon. One of the boys in the church named Tommy Campbell took up
the challenge and went a step farther by doing a home garage sale. Here's his
story through the eyes of his father:

by father Thomas Campbell

Photo Left to Right: Tommy and Thomas

Recently,
my son, Tommy, came up with the goal to raise $1,000 for BGMC. He participated
in a bike-a-thon and raised $305. Of that $305, Tommy gave $190 of his own
money.

Tommy
had been saving his allowance for awhile, and he asked me, "Dad, should I
give my $190 toward BGMC or save it for an iPod?"

"I
wouldn't save for an iPod if I were you," I said, "I would save up for an iPad."

Tommy
said in response, "I think I'll give it to BGMC because we have everything,
and the people in Madagascar don't even have clean water to drink."

We
thought about having a garage sale to reach Tommy's goal of $1,000 because we
knew the bike-a-thon alone wouldn't help Tommy reach his goal. Shortly after the
bike-a-thon, Pastor Kelly shared in kids' church about a girl who raised $1,500
for BGMC by having a garage sale. This was a confirmation to Tommy that he
needed to do the garage sale.

We
cleaned out our storage area of items we weren't using anymore. Tommy's older sister,
Melody, cleaned out her room of old clothes and donated an American Girl doll
for the sale. Tommy's younger sister, Rosie, went through her old clothes and
toys she no longer used. Tommy gathered old clothes and toys from his
room.

Melody
also made signs that we posted at the garage sale. One sign read, "All
proceeds go to Boys and Girls Missionary Challenge." Another sign read,
"Help us raise our goal of $1,000 for Madagascar. We have everything, and
they don't even have clean water to drink."

The
garage sale was on Friday and Saturday, June 3 and 4. On Friday we raised $500.
Friday went very well, so much that we were running out of items to sell.

That
evening we were able to find two more bins full of items we could sell. We also
made some cookies and lemonade and bought some bottled water to sell on
Saturday. We counted the money we had made that day. Then we read the Scripture
passage from Matthew 25:31-40, "Whatever you did for one of the least of these
brothers of mine, you did for me." We explained to Tommy that providing water
for those who are thirsty is like giving water to Jesus. Then we prayed that
God would help us raise the rest of the money.

On
Saturday, the sale was slower, but Tommy and his older sister began to pray
that cars would begin to stop by. And they did. We were able to raise $250 that
day to meet Tommy's goal of $1,000 for BGMC!